Summer’s End XII “All Acts Confirmed”

The Summer’s End Festival organisers have announced details and the entire line-up for this year’s event. The festival will once again be held at Chepstow’s Drill Hall – and this year’s dates are between 30th September – 2nd October 2016.

We are also thrilled to be able to announce – for the first time since the first event in 2005 – the ENTIRE line up.

“There will be a new festival logo, website and apparel design launched over the coming weeks. In the meantime, we are very proud to announce, for the first time since 2005, the ENTIRE 2016 Summer’s End line-up! Ladeeze ‘n gennelmen, we give you (in no particular order) …”

IQ (UK)
Making their second appearance at the Festival 8 years after their first, we welcome back the remarkable IQ, with Peter Nicholls and Mike Holmes still at the helm, and original drummer Paul Cook now back in the band, plus Tim Esau (Bass) and Neil Durrant (Keys) now making up that classic prog 5 piece. The band’s live excursions are relatively rare these days, so this one is not to be missed.

Magic Pie (Norway)
After their unfortunate late cancellation last year, we have already announced the appearance of Magic Pie from Norway, whose live shows have wowed audiences all over the world, particularly in the USA, where their performances at Rosfest have taken on legendary status. The bands most recent album, 2015’s “King for a Day” was rapturously received and this appearance should be similarly inspiring.

RPWL (Germany)
Another band who nearly played the festival in 2014, RPWL from Bavaria in Germany are another very welcome returning band having last played in 2009. Since then, the group have gone from strength to strength having released their last studio album – Wanted – in 2014 and an album of Pink Floyd songs in 2015.

Knight Area (Netherlands)
We are very excited to welcome Knight Area from Holland to the festival for the first time. The band last played in the UK seven years ago, so are somewhat overdue a return. The band have remained extremely active since, releasing their latest album Hyperdrive in 2014 and a live DVD of the same name last year to great acclaim.

Karnataka (UK etc)
Like RPWL, Karnataka last played the festival in 2009, although only bassist Ian Jones and guitarist Enrico Pinna remain from that line up. More importantly, the band’s 2015 album “Secrets of Angels” with new vocalist Hayley Griffiths, saw them move into a more symphonic Prog- metal direction, so expect a very exciting surprise if you haven’t seen them live for a while!

Seven Steps to the Green Door (Germany)
We have admired the sophisticated Prog stylings of Seven Steps to the Green Door for some time, and following their bold new album “Fetish” we are very pleased to bring them to Chepstow for their first UK appearance. The band features Marek Arnold – who some might remember from his appearance with UPF in 2014 – and dual vocalists Anne Trautmann and Lars Köhler.

Strangefish (UK)
Another band returning to the festival are award-winning Manchester- based band Strangefish who first played for us – gulp – 10 years ago at the Robin. The band are in their second incarnation after a 5 year plus hiatus and are hard at work on their third album. New bassist Carl Howard joins the band in this new incarnation as well as backing vocalist Jo Whittaker, but otherwise the band are a good as ever. Expect inflatables!

Damanek featuring Guy Manning (UK etc)
Damanek is a new project featuring new material by Guy Manning and likely to feature the talents of Dan Mash (bass) and Marek Arnold (keys, sax). At time of typing the band is currently taking shape and the live line up is not yet fully in place, but may include some surprise international names. Guy promises music very different to Manning so watch this space for further updates!

Sylvium (Netherlands)
We have been hugely impressed by Sylvium from the Netherlands, whose mixture of Prog, Post rock and ambient styles are really exceptional, so are happy to welcome them in our traditional “best Prog band you’ve never heard of” slot. No pressure! Check out their latest, second album “Waiting for the Noise”, released last year for a taste of what they do.

Ghost Community (UK)
Ghost Community are a new rock / prog band featuring Matt Cohen (The Reasoning) on bass and Simon Rogers (Also Eden) on guitar as well as John Paul Vaughan (Lead Vocals) Moray Macdonald (Keyboards ) and Jake Bradford-Sharp (Drums). After some tentative first live dates last year, the band are currently recording their first album. More news as we get it!

Tiger Moth Tales – Full Band (UK)
Following his rapturously received debut “Cocoon” and the slightly unexpected follow up “Storytellers Part One”, multi-instrumentalist and singer Peter Jones has gone on to solo support slots with Magenta, Big Big Train and Abel Ganz. However, for Summers End he will offer what his fans have been crying out for – a full band performance. We can’t wait.

Firefly Burning (UK)
Our “curveball” band this year comes from the quieter end of the spectrum. Lambsie and Huw both saw London based prog-folk-pop combo Firefly Burning at last year’s Eppyfest (thanks Ian) and were completely blown away. Expect to be mesmerised by great songs, amazing vocals (featuring lead singer Bea Hankey), almost entirely acoustic instrumentation and some exotic percussion. The band’s 2015 album “Skeleton Hill” was produced by Tim Friesse Green (Talk Talk).